Carnot
Run a piston engine on a live pressure-volume diagram, trace the four strokes into a closed loop, and bank the enclosed area as useful work.
How to play
A heat engine cycles through four strokes — heat, expand, cool, compress — drawing a closed loop on a P–V diagram. The shaded area inside the loop is your work output. A ceiling rail marks the maximum work the second law of thermodynamics allows.
- Slide the expansion-volume control to set how far the gas pushes the piston.
- Watch the loop close and the enclosed area, heat in, and efficiency update live.
- Push the area as high as you can without exceeding the Carnot ceiling.
- Bank the cycle to score, then run a new one.
Controls
- Desktop: drag the expansion-volume slider and click to bank the cycle; choose Gentle/Standard/Furnace and Daily/Practice.
- Phone & tablet: drag the slider and tap the buttons — fully touch-friendly.
Tips & strategy
- A bigger expansion sweeps more area, but efficiency is bounded by the temperature ratio — there's a sweet spot, not a free lunch.
- Watch the Carnot ceiling meter; over-reaching past the ideal limit is wasted ambition.
- Harder settings run hotter furnaces, raising both the potential work and the penalty for sloppy cycles.
What you'll learn
Carnot makes the thermodynamics of an ideal heat engine playable: every loop you draw obeys the real relations.
- Skills: thermodynamics, heat engines, the Carnot cycle, physics
- Best for: advanced high school / college
- For parents & teachers: the thermodynamics of a heat engine.
About Carnot
Carnot makes the thermodynamics of an ideal heat engine playable: every loop you draw obeys the real relationship between work, heat and efficiency. It's an original, free browser game with three difficulties and daily plus practice modes.
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